WHY JOLIE PUT UP such a fuss about marryin\u2019 that fine boy Stuart is beyond me. He\u2019s so handsome and so successful, every girl in town had her cap set for him, but Stuart wanted my baby. Can\u2019t imagine why. After all, she\u2019s goin\u2019 on twenty-four and she\u2019s not exactly from a good old Southern family like Stuart.<\/p>\n
Look at her standin\u2019 there all pretty in my mama\u2019s lace, all that jet sparklin\u2019 and Stuart holdin\u2019 onto her hand so that tears o\u2019 joy are runnin\u2019 down her face.<\/p>\n
I knew she\u2019d get happy about marryin\u2019 Stuart. She may be headstrong on most things\u2014like goin\u2019 to college, for Pete\u2019s sake!\u2014but I knew she\u2019d agree with me and her daddy that this weddin\u2019 would be the best thing for her.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m so proud o\u2019 my girl, marryin\u2019 Stuart.<\/p>\n
Oh, that man\u2014so thoughtful to give Jolie\u2019s hand just a little extra squeeze and lean down to whisper in her ear. I know he\u2019ll be a fine husband for my daughter. Why, I\u2019ll have grandkids in no time to spoil and do for.<\/p>\n
Still don\u2019t know why she didn\u2019t want to marry Stuart. Oh, well. I suppose it don\u2019t matter. After all, she finally came around.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s for the best.<\/p>\n
\u201cREMEMBER WHAT I told you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I forget?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gritted smiles fooled the crowd.<\/p>\n
The masses are asses, Jolie Turnbull thought as her fianc\u00e9\u2019s hand painfully squeezed hers. <\/p>\n
\u201cI told you to stop crying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re hurting me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReally?\u201d he purred and Jolie shuddered.<\/p>\n
Crystal flutes clinked with a cheerful musical lilt. White Christmas lights covered the ten-foot-tall Douglas fir in the corner. The pine boughs spiraled down the staircase bannister. Candle sconces cast a soft glow up the carved plaster walls in vague ovals. Expensively dressed men and women mixed and mingled, laughed and joked, obligingly bestowing congratulations upon the happy couple. Champagne flowed, but not from an ice sculpture or some other monstrosity that Jolie\u2019s mother would have liked. Oh, no.<\/p>\n
This was not the club house at a trailer park.<\/p>\n
This was the Beauchamp plantation, the home of Alabama\u2019s most successful attorney and aspiring politician. And it was going to be receiving a new bride, whether she liked it or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jolie said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will be the perfect politician\u2019s wife or your father will die.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as Jolie looked across the room to see her father\u2019s unhappy countenance, she knew she was staring into a lifetime of misery.<\/p>\n
★<\/p>\n
WHY JOLIE PUT UP such a fuss about marryin\u2019 that fine boy Stuart is beyond me. He\u2019s so handsome and so successful, every girl in town had her cap set for him, but Stuart wanted my baby. Can\u2019t imagine why. After all, she\u2019s goin\u2019 on twenty-four and she\u2019s not exactly from a good old Southern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6087,"menu_order":94,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1380","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1380"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25031,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1380\/revisions\/25031"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}